chemist; and, from several samples analyzed, he has obtained the following results :

Nuremburg bread equals

The more gluten flour contains, the more good bread a given number of pounds will furnish. A barrel of flour rich in gluten will give 10 per cent. more bread than one nearly all starch. The quantity of the meal-forming principle depends, it is stated, in a good degree, on the quantity of nitrogen in the soil on which the wheat is grown. The following facts are interesting, in connexion with this crop :

An acre of land, with the same labor and proportion of manure, Jacobs (Corn Law Tracts) says, will yield 300 bushels of potatoes, or 24 bushels of wheat. The food of potatoes, at 38 pounds per bushel, equals 11.4 pounds; the latter, at 60 pounds, 1.4 pounds: thus, the wheat is one-eighth of poSir H. Davy says wheat contains three times as much mucilage, or starch, as gluten, albumen, saccharine, &c. Probably the nutricious power of wheat to potatoes is as 7 to 2, or 2 pounds to 7 pounds.

One individual, a year, consumes 480 pounds of wheat, or 1,680 potatoes. One acre of wheat will feed 3 persons, and of potatoes nearly 7 per

sons.

The nutriciousness and palatableness of bread depend much on the method in which it is made; and for this purpose good yeast is indispensable. The following recipe for yeast has been furnished by a baker, who has proved it abundantly. It is easily followed, as it requires no materials but such as may be obtained by every housekeeper. Were flour only well fermented when used for bread, there would be not only an actual saving of many millions of dollars, but the health and happiness of the community would be greatly advanced.

For four or five gallons of yeast, take one-quarter pound of hops; boil them until all the strength is drawn out; strain the water; add 5 pounds of common wheat flour; stir it in while it boils; also, stir in while it is boiling or hot one-half pint of malt, ground fine. If made at night, it will be ready in the morning; and if in cool weather, or put in a cool place, the yeast will keep five or six days.

The application of wheat straw to the making of paper has been known for some years; and we find it stated in a late English paper, that the finest and the coarsest kinds can alike be made, and that the experiment was soon to be tried on a large scale, as mills had been taken to Chalford for that purpose. Should this manufacture be successful, it will only be a new proof of the indebtedness of agriculture to the mechanic arts for the varied application of its products.

BARLEY.

Of the crop of barley, the information which has been received is in general very slender and indefinite. Though it has been disused as a material

for distillation, yet, in some parts of the country, it is becoming somewhat more cultivated, in place of rye, for the use of animals, &c.

The crop in Maine is thus characterized by one whose means of information are better than ordinary: "The crops of barley, when cultivated, were good; but not so much was sown this year as heretofore. The rea

son probably was, that barley has been cultivated pretty extensively as a substitute for wheat, as it did not suffer by the weevil. Farmers, finding that this insect was not so frequent as formerly, have returned to wheat. Barley has, however, never been raised extensively in Maine before the weevil came, and little or none is shipped."

Another person, speaking of the central part of the State, north, estimates the increase to be 10 per cent. more than in 1840; while, in the southwest section, it is thought to have "decreased yearly, for five years past, from 5 to 10 per cent.'

On the whole, we believe that there was not so much raised, by 5 per cent., in Maine.

In New Hampshire, on account of the drought in the lower part of the State, east, the barley crop is thought to have fallen two-thirds from the previous year. Further towards the Connecticut, in the southwest part of the State, it is thought to have been a slight gain, perhaps 15 to 20 per cent. On the central part of the State, west, on the Connecticut river, like all the grain crops, barley is thought to have been above an average. Perhaps the increase of the crop over that of 1843 would be safely fixed at from 5 to 10 per cent.

There is not much raised in Vermont, and hence but little account is taken of it. As the season, however, was propitious for the grain crop, it is thought that there may have been a slight increase in the aggregate, of perhaps 5 per cent. or more.

In Massachusetts, in the central section of the State, there seems to have been an increase of about 10 per cent. over the crop of 1843. In the northeast part, bordering on the Atlantic, for the last five years there has been but little barley raised, on account of a worm in the straw.

In Rhode Island and Connecticut, there is very little attention paid to this crop, and scarcely any estimate can be formed, as it occupied so small a place in the view of the farmers. Seldom is there seen there a field of even a few acres devoted to barley.

The bulk of the barley crop of the whole United States is raised in New York. Yet, even here, there are large sections of the State where little or none is cultivated. It seldom, however, is the subject of distinct notice in the agricultural papers, so that it is not easy to trace the progress of the barley crop through the season of its growth. We find a few hints, which we give. Thus we notice it in the middle and also at the end of the month of July, in western New York, as "good," "proving better than for many years;" and in an agricultural paper for August, at New York, it is stated "barley has come in finely, and the crop is an unusually good one. city is the principal market, consuming annually about 20,000 bushels." The accounts since the harvest, also, from other sources, speak of it in the northern part of the State "as a fair average ;" and, with the exception of the following, in different sections, as "an average," "about as in 1843," "fully an average crop," "full crop," &c.

This

In the county of Onondaga, it is estimated at one-fourth less than the year

"an average crop," though "in some fields the stalks were thinned out by the severity of the winter."

From the above notices we think the conclusion is warranted, that there was in the State of New York an increased crop of at least 20 per cent. over that of 1843, which it will be recollected was 10 per cent. better than the crop of 1842.

The grain, it is probable, would not compare in plumpness with that of the previous year; but the progress of improvement and the increased amount of land sown justify us in fixing the increase of wheat as we have done.

The earlier notices of the appearance of the wheat crop in Pennsylva nia, which we have been able to collect, are not so extended or varied as in the case of Ohio and New York. We will mention a few of the most prominent. In May, speaking of the promise of this crop in Chester county, it is said that there is a prospect of a heavy crop of wheat." In another account it is stated that, in east Pennsylvania, there was "considerable injury done by the fly."

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About the middle of June the crop of wheat in Berks county is described, as being a "fair one," "but not so abundant as was before expected." In Bucks county, under the same date, the fields are said to have been full of promise; but the fly appeared, and became "most destructive." One person says, that, where he expected" to gather 1,200 to 1,300 bushels," he could not now hope for 300." In the vicinity of Sunbury the wheat is said to be fine. The fly is not unfrequently mentioned during the mouth of June, but it appears to have been confined in its injurious ravages to particular sections; and it was thought that there would be "a full average crop" in Pennsylvania, "and perhaps more."

Later, in the last week of July, the crop in the southwestern part of the State, in the vicinity of Union, is described as "not equal to the expecta tions of farmers; there was much straw, but the grain proved to be small, and it was a good deal struck by rust.

The wheat crop of Beaver county is stated, in a public paper, early in July, to be "of a most promising aspect." In Germantown a new enemy is noticed "a small, dark, ugly worm, three-fourths of an inch long, which crawls up the stalk, and devours the leaves." Later still, in Adams and York counties, "the crop," it is stated, "is an average one," and was "well secured," though in some parts of this State it is "badly shrunk." From other sources of information, also, we learn that the results of the harvest varied in different sections of the State. Thus, the crop in Erie and some of the northern counties is thought to have been 25 per cent. better than that of 1843, as it was a fine growth, and was well gathered. In Beaver and Washington counties, in the western section, towards the south, we are told that the crop is less than an average one, as it was much destroyed by the fly." A similar estimate is given with respect to the counties of Union, Greene, and Fayette, in the southwest corner of the State. "Many fields were not harvested, being too light and shrivelled to be worth cutting; but few fields of merchantable wheat-i. e., which will weigh 60 pounds per bushel; some 50, 54, 58," &c. Some specimens of the Mediterranean wheat are mentioned as the best in that vicinity, "which weigh 65 pounds to the bushel." In Armstrong county, as appears from the reports of the commissioners of that county, the assessment list shows 192,000 bushels, and the crop is supposed to have been lessened 10 per

cep

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As we advance from these counties towards the centre of the State, there is great complaint of rust; and the injury is said to be so severe that in some fields not more than three bushels to an acre has been harvested. In some central counties, also, the mildew and rust lessened the crop at least one-half.

In the central part of the State, in the counties bordering on the upper branches of the Susquehannah, the crop is estimated to have been onethird less than that of the year 1843, owing to the rust. It is stated, that a few weeks before harvest" the wheat crop promised to be very abundant; but about that time it was struck with the rust, particularly the wheat on the river bottoms and in the valleys, which injured it at least 50 per cent." The same complaint of rust meets us as we pass to the eastern section towards the northeast, where the winter wheat is said to have been somewhat injured by the rust, "but to have yielded an average crop."

Towards the southeast, on the Susquehanua, and in the vicinity of Harrisburg, the rust is also said to have much damaged the crop, so that it yielded not more than two-thirds as much as in 1843.

Still further on towards Philadelphia, we are told that in the rich county of Lancaster the crop was "an average one, both in quantity and quality." In Chester county, "the early sown was good, the late sown suffered by rust." In the vicinity of Philadelphia, the crop, on the whole, was "pretty good." From the best calculations we can make, we think that the crop in general feli off from 10 to 15 per cent. in Pennsylvania.

In tracing out the progress of the wheat crop of Virginia, the next in order, a similar diversity in the various sections meets us. The earlier accounts of its appearance, so far as they have fallen under our notice, are quite promising. Thus we find it said of the crop in the vicinity of Wheeling, in the latter part of May: "Crops never looked better, or promised a more abundant harvest."

In counties bordering on the Potomac, also under the same date, the wheat crop is said to be "promising." In the vicinity of Winchester, early in June, the crops are described as "turning out well, though there may be, in some cases, partial failures." And, again, the remark is made of the wheat-growing counties generally, that there is the "prospect of an abundant crop," "a fine season for harvesting," and the crop itself "unusually healthy and advanced." There is some complaint of the fly; but the injury both in eastern and western Virginia is considered only partialconfined to some sections. In the vicinity of Staunton the crop is stated to be "good," and but little complaint is made of any injury there sus tained. Under date of Wellsburg, July 3, a writer also says, that "the crops in the upper part of the county are promising."

There are some exceptions; for one account from Frederick county speaks of the wheat being "much shrunk, because of an excess of wet weather;" and an articie in the Wheeling Gazette thus mentions the state of the wheat crop in that neighborhood: "The wheat fields in this vicinity, in harvest, presented a most promising appearance; and it was supposed at that time that we would have a harvest rich and abundant beyond all former precedent. As soon, however, as the farmers commenced threshing out their grain, the discovery was made, that the flattering indications of an abundant yield above referred to were deceptive; there was, to be sure, an unusual amount of straw, but the yield of grain fell far short of the reasonable expectations of our worthy agriculturists. And it was

also discovered that a great deal of the wheat was light and shrivelled, some of it requiring five pecks, in measure, to make a bushel of the standard weight. We also regret to learn that many fields were injured by the rust. Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, we are inclined to believe that the aggregate amount of wheat obtained this season in the agricultural region. of the country adjacent to our city will fall but little, if any, short of the average yield of former seasons; for we are assured that much more wheat was sown last fall and spring than usual; and many of our farmers have, undoubtedly, harvested unusually fine crops."

Referring to later accounts, also from various sections, since the harvest, we gather the following particulars, which, in some parts, are less promising:

"On the southeast, embracing several counties, including the Isle of Wight, Sussex, Norfolk, &c., there has been, it is thought, an increase of 20 per cent. over the previous year.

"This is owing to the favorable effects resulting from the use of marl in that region-more attention having been directed to this object than before."

From this point, towards the centre, it is judged that there has beer. “an increase of 25 per cent., owing, among other reasons, principally to the growing of a more forward kind of wheat and a more favorable spring." On the east, from the centre of the State, in several counties bordering the Potomac and its vicinity, there seems to have been "scarcely an average crop;" while on the southern central section of the State, bordering on North Carolina, the wheat crop is represented as having "fallen off at least 50 per cent., on account of rust, caused by its coming up badly and a moist warm June." North of this last section, however, the injury seems not to have been much felt, as the crop is pronounced to have been, "both in quantity and quality, an average one." Further west, in the counties on

the Kanawha river, it was likewise "an average crop."

Taking all the information within our reach into the account, we seem to be authorized to estimate the crop in Virginia in 1844 to be an increase of about 20 per cent. over that of 1843.

The notices respecting the wheat crop in Indiana, in May and June, are of various kinds. Complaints, even at that early date, are made of the fly; but the principal injury seems to have been occasioned by the severe rains, which deluged portions of the wheat-growing sections of the State. Thus we find accounts like the following:

A person, near Goshen, Indiana, writes: "I am almost discouraged; the weather is very unfavorable for farming; very wet and rainy. The fly is taking the wheat here at a dreadful rate, destroying some pieces entirely. The crop here presents a most unfavorable appearance. Some fields have been ploughed up, and corn planted therein."

Again speaking of the prospect of the crop in the valley of the Wabash, especially the bottom lands, it is said: "There is every appearance of a bad crop." Other accounts, however, at this period, are more favorable. Thus the Indiana (Rising Sun) Blade, of the 18th of May, says: "The prospect of this portion of the country for abundant crops is favorable. The wheat is unusually forward, and we are informed by farmers that, from present indications, it will be ready to harvest by the middle of June, some two or three weeks earlier than usual."

And again: the Madison (Indiana) Banner, of June 5th, after noting